Washington Post staffers grilled the newspaper’s new CEO and publisher Will Lewis during a tense all-hands meeting — less than 24 hours after executive editor Sally Buzbee stepped down.
Buzbee — the paper’s first female executive editor in its 144-year history — exited after a three-year tenure that was marred by deteriorating finances and readership, with the last year recording more than $70 million in losses and audience declines of 50% since 2020.
The sharp-elbowed Lewis, British-born media exec, who joined the paper last November, had clashed with Buzbee in recent months over his aggressive plan to carve up the newsroom and Buzbee’s oversight, which pushed the editor to resign Sunday, according to reports.
Lewis highlighted the flagging readership and financials as central to the changes, telling staffers, “you’re going to thank me when you see what it’s like to produce world-class journalism,” according to a source who paraphrased his comments.
